Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Tuesday Twitterdeedum

Three layers this morning. Crisp fall air has arrived in late August. At least, we haven't suffered a freeze like we did during this time last year. That isolated event wiped out a big segment of my garden or at least stalled its growth. Potatoes ended up mostly marble size with a few exceptions. And, the cuke crop did not do so well.

Unlike this year, however, the season was earlier, so when the freeze came, we had harvested more than enough green beans. I'm hoping for enough this year to throw into freezer bags cuz we love our green beans around here.

Today's schedule is pretty open-ended, and I'm glad. Within a 24-hour period this weekend through yesterday, I sent off a column, edited a rough-draft story for my son, collaborated with Bill on a piece for the Oakdale (Louisiana) Cemetery newsletter and judged several entries in the Bonner County Fair creative writing contest.

At the fair, I worked alongside Harvey Pine, who told me he became a "WRITER" when he put the word in bold letters on his business card. Harvey's got a nice sense of humor, and from what I've seen, he can claim the title for more reasons than a business card.

He judged the school entries while I judged the adults' work. We spent about three hours doing our duty. At first, it seemed like the insomnia problem from the night before was gonna get in the way of my concentration. Thank God for strong coffee. A few sips, and I was back in form to read through the entries.

Before leaving the fairgrounds, I strolled through the main exhibit building to see if any ribbons had landed on my own entries. So far, three blues----apple jelly, carrots and Swiss chard. Two sweet pea entries (multi-colored and one-color bouquets), the dill and oregano still had judgments out. I'm thinking there was another sweet-pea entry that will outdo my one-color bouquet. The blooms were beautiful and large.

So, we'll see. I told Bill this morning that yesterday afternoon's ribbons were enough to satisfy me for the whole fair. Anything beyond that will be pure joy.

My sister Barbara entered seven photos in photography----always an extremely competitive department, and Laurie entered some moccasins she had crafted and beaded. Laurie has been very industrious over the past several months, making moccasins for family members, after learning the basics at a powwow near Clark Fork last year.

It will be fun to go to the fair as a civilian of sorts. No more judging, just walking around seeing the exhibits and visiting.

Visiting has become a problem of late whenever I go to the fair. I tend to spend so much time visiting that I don't always see all the exhibits, so that necessitates more trips to the fair and more visiting. Neither are really that much of a problem, except for the physical aspect of visiting too long with too many people.

I'm old, and for the past several years, my knees have behaved just like little kids when their mom talks too long in the grocery store. They start screaming out with the dull ache. After a while, the dull ache turns into total screeching pain. Often this happens when someone is really into talking. I have a hard time concentrating on what they're saying because those knees doth protest much too much.

Yesterday, after arriving early to judge and arriving with a tired head and body, I found one of those long wooden benches and sat down. I told the woman next to me that it used to be I'd walk past those benches, look at their occupants and think, "Those are for the old people. Now I are one!"

At least my knees behaved yesterday. So, the benches might just become my new best friends at the fair, and I'm guessing some of their occupants may even be my contemporaries.

We're planning to go to the herding competition Friday. That's when all the Border Collies, Aussies and other herd dogs show their prowess at getting critters from Point A to B, C, etc. We figure on taking one of each of the two Love-family doggies so they can see how it's done, according to the rules.

We have herders at our place, but often they don't know or follow the rules.

Speaking of the fair and all its offerings, Annie told me last night she'll be attending the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson in a couple of weeks. She's representing Groundspeak and showing Kansas area geocachers how to use the geocaching feature on a cell phone. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

Nothing like fair time and beautiful days to get one's juices going. So, I'll get my body going and finish the morning chores so I can head off to another day at the fair.